The mission log of an alien on earth.

Follow orders and you’ll probably live, part 2

2015-01-27T20:45:17+00:00

I have the misfortune to be working in the People’s Republic of New Jersey. This incident is local news, but I have not seen it nationally. I’m not surprised. It’s another example of a black man who is unwilling or unable to follow the orders of the police, and they shot him to death. After about a minute of repeated orders not to move, he got out of the car and stepped toward the officer, who was clearly already on edge because there was a gun in the car.

Rule Number 1 for anyone (not just black men) – follow the orders of the police, if you want to survive the encounter. Especially when the police repeat their orders many, many times. I think that’s why racists like Al Sharpton and President Obama have not seized on this incident to “prove” racism on the part of the police. Number one, the suspect, Jerame Reid, had a gun in the glove compartment in front of him, and he directly disobeyed the orders of the officers not to move or to reach for anything. Number two, Officer Braheme Days, who was on the right side of the car, is black, as was Reid. So you can’t claim “police racism” very easily in the death of Reid, though I would still expect the race-baiters to try. But I think the clincher is that Reid already had a criminal record with 13 years served in prison for violent crimes like shooting at police officers, and Officer Days knew Reid from Reid’s previous encounters with law enforcement. That’s why Officer Days was so insistent with his orders – because he knew Reid’s criminal history and he knew that Reid was likely to shoot him if Reid got the chance.

So the whole racist “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” meme fits perfectly here, but clearly Reid disobeyed clear instructions from the police, and it got him killed. Only the most insane of racists will try to claim otherwise.